Social Housing Provision in Rural Areas: Lessons learned from a Historic Analysis of Council House Building in a Small Town in Rural England

Abstract

History shows that one successful method of addressing poverty and inequality is by providing social housing. In England during its post war peak, local authorities, such as borough, urban and rural district councils, built thousands of “council” houses. The common perception of the “council” estate is of huge developments such as in Beacontree built by the London County Council, but construction took place on a smaller scale in rural districts and much can be learned from studying how social housing was provided in these areas. Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire is an excellent example of council housing provision before and after WW2. Archival data was used to analyze and evaluate the council house-building program from 1919 to 1953. Beginning in 1919 with 10 workers cottages built under the powers of the Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 and ending in 1953 with the erection of 164 “Wimpey” no-fines concrete houses, the Wycombe Rural District Council built 790 dwellings. By the time of the 1961 Census after the WRDC postwar building program effectively ended in 1953 council houses accoutned for about 40% of the homes in the town and the population doubled since 1921. Records show construction of the dwellings helped develop a thriving local construction economy fueled by procurement with local builders, constructing as few as two units. Only toward the end of the building period were contracts let in large quantities when non-traditional construction methods were adopted.